Ephesians 2:1-10 August 27, To All the Nations Spreading the Good News, Part 4

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1 Scott Meador First UMC Ephesians 2:1-10 August 27, 2017 To All the Nations Spreading the Good News, Part 4 I The main thing that God asks for is our attention. This quote has been said by a number of people. I heard it most recently from Jim Cymbala, long-time pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York City. The quote can mean many things, but for me it means that God wants us to notice what has taken place in the past and what is occurring right in front of us. We are to be on a journey. God is doing remarkable work. Paying attention and being on a journey are good ways to look at history. We need to look back on our past and learn from our past. This helps us move forward. This month we have been looking at the 2,000 year history of church in 500 year blocks. We have taken time to pay attention to what has happened before us. The first block we looked at took us from the time of Christ to approximately 500 AD. This was a time in which the church came together through the power of the Spirit and endured ongoing persecutions. When the church became legal in the Fourth Century though, the church lost its edge. Within time, the Roman Empire fell. The second block took us from approximately 500 AD 1000 AD. This was a time in which the Roman Catholic Church rose in power. As the Roman Empire had fallen, the church filled the great leadership void. As the end of this period of time came to an end though, a schism took place between the West and the East. The third block took us from 1000 AD 1500 AD. Here, we focused on the crusades, as well as the rise of scholasticism and monasticism outside the walls of a building. This period ended with a renewed interest in the Holy Scriptures. A leader was John Wycliffe. II This morning we complete our study on the history of the church. We look at the period of time from 1500 AD modern times. Once more, God asks us to pay attention to the past to understand our present and future. We continue on this grand journey. Now as we look at this final block we move to the eve of the Reformation Period. At this time in the late 1400 s and early 1500 s, most people were not happy with the condition of the church. Previous attempts to reform the church had not worked. Furthermore, the church continued to ask for large sums of money. In return, churchgoers saw corruption and mishandling of important matters. More and more people were reading the Bible too, which wasn t making church leaders happy. They were losing power. Also at play in 1506 was an appeal from Pope Julius II to rebuild St. Peter s Church in Rome, the site of St. Peter s corpse. This was going to cost a lot of extra money. The stage was set for some interesting things to happen. 1

2 Now it s in this early part of the 1500 s that we meet Martin Luther. Luther was an Augustinian friar teaching at Wittenburg University in Germany. He was disgusted and furious with a call to purchase indulgences. Indulgences were means to have sins forgiven. Money collected from the purchase would be used to contribute to St. Peter s building fund. In response to this anger, he wrote 95 theses on the subject in Latin for a university debate, nailing them as custom dictated to the church door. The date was October 31, 1517, nearly 500 years to the day. He thought selling indulgences was a horrendous scam. He also denied the Pope could release anyone from purgatory. Now something else was also going on for Luther. Luther became convinced that a study of the scriptures was clear that we are saved by accepting God s give of grace through faith. As our Scripture Reading from Ephesians makes clear, For it is by grace you have been saved through faith... not by works. For Luther, we do not work our way into heaven. We are only saved by what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. For him too, every believer was a priest and had the right to go to God directly. For these reasons and others, he soon became the hero of a movement that would change history. With the actions of Luther, the Protestant Reformation began. The word, protestant, connects with protest. The word, reformation, connects with reform. Everything was now changing. Within a matter of time, other reformers would come on the scene. These reformers included Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and John Knox. New denominations began like the Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, and the Reformed Church. Reform was taking place across Europe. People were moving away from the traditional Roman Catholic Church. III Now another type of reform was also starting up in England about this time. The marital problems of King Henry VIII led to England s break with Rome. Not only was he tired of being married to Catherine of Aragon, who was not providing him a male heir, but he was smitten with Anne Boleyn. He sought annulment of his marriage at the hands of the pope, but the pope at the time would not agree with this act. In the midst of the struggle, Henry managed to install Thomas Cranmer as archbishop of Canterbury and to win from him annulment of his marriage to Catherine. And with that, the reformation had come to England and the Church of England had begun. Now I mention the Church of England because John and Charles Wesley came from the Church of England, also called the Anglican Church. Fast forwarding to early 1700 s, the Wesley s and good friend George Whitefield were Oxford students who founded a group called the Holy Club. They met to engage in Bible study, enrich the spiritual life of the university, and engage in the social issues of the day the Church of England was not addressing. Because of their strict rules, they were nicknamed, Methodists. They were not crazy about the name, but the name stuck (did not want a separate church). Within time, the Wesley s and Whitefield carried on revival efforts throughout England, but the Church of England was not supportive. Shut out of many churches, they took part 2

3 in outdoor preaching. The movement eventually moved across the ocean to the American Colonies. As the American Colonies became the United States of America, the Methodist became a dominant presence in the new land. Now one of the reasons the Methodist Church grew in America at this time is because the stage had been set previously during the First Great Awakening. The Awakening picked up steam with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards in Edwards felt dissatisfied with the lackluster faith he saw in those he preached to. In response to what he saw, Edwards preached a sermon entitled, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. In the sermon he called people to turn from their sins and get saved. It was the right message at the right time, and a blaze of religious passion swept the area within a year. This message, and others that followed, planted the seeds for movements like the Methodist movement to make a difference. IV As we move into the late 1700 s and early 1800 s debates began to take place in the great universities of the world. One professor/theologian was a German named Friedrich Schleiermacher. Following the Enlightenment Period, Schleiermacher made experience or feeling the basis of the faith, rather than the Bible and one s relationship to Christ. Also strong for Schleiermacher was historical criticism that investigates the origins of ancient biblical texts to understand the world behind the text. Schleiermacher developed a significant following. Now some felt Schleiermacher and his followers had become too liberal. In response, the neo-orthodoxy movement began in the 1800 s and 1900 s. A leader here was Karl Barth. We have spoken about him from time to time. One of Barth s big teachings was dialectical theology. For Barth there is a sizable gap between God and humanity, which is consumed in sin. For him, the gap can only be diminished through the works of Christ Jesus. Going back to the Reformation, we see the need to accept grace through faith. Pushing a bit forward into the 1900 s a major emphasis is the holiness movement. The focus here is being filled with the Holy Spirit. Leaders in this movement reconnected with the Pentecost story where the Holy Spirit came and people spoke in foreign languages. Speaking in tongues soon became important to these followers. Within time, Pentecostalism became the fastest-growing form of Christianity today. Many of our largest churches in world today connect with the Pentecostal family of churches. Looking at the church at beginning of the Twenty-First Century, we realize how global the church has become. While Sunday worship numbers are down in developing countries today, the church is growing the most in many of our Third World countries. A great example of all this is the United Methodist Church in Africa. Because of the strong work of foreign missionaries, the Methodist Church has exploded in Africa the last the years. Nearly 40% of United Methodists worldwide live on the African continent. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a great example of church growth. 3

4 Reflecting on these final 500 years of the church, there is a lot to share. I have only begun to touch the surface regarding key people and events. The last 500 years have been full and colorful. The lessons to ponder from this period are numerous. Of course, we look back on the Reformation. We see the need to accept God s give of grace through faith. We do not earn our way into heaven. We also need to return to the power of the scriptures. The First Great Awakening and neo-orthodoxy movement also brought this out. Another lesson is a renewed interest in the Holy Spirit. The last one hundred years brought this out. V An additional reoccurring theme is the need to reach out to the poor and lost. While we might not have spoken about this in these final 500 blocks, a need to reach out to the least of the least is present. All we have to do is go back and reflect on the life so someone like Mother Teresa to see this. As much as anything, this block of 500 years makes us take a closer look at the church today. Our church has much to feel good about. We also have considerable work to do. Clay jars language. Looking back on Jeremiah, we see God as potter and Israel as the clay. Paul used language of clay jars. We need to smash some of our clay jars. The treasure on the inside is precious. We might need to do church differently, but the message of the gospel is eternal. 4

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